Mirror
by Magnetic-Paw
Summary: Our beloved blond isn't the same anymore after summer holidays had ended. Why is he acting so strange? Is watching how he destroys himself really the only thing his friends can do or... Read to find out. Puppyshipping
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: Okay, I'm very nervous, this is my first attempt to write a fic by myself. I know, it's very short, but I really tried my best.^^" Many special thanks to my Betas Willowsnake and Anniebear91. Thank you so much for your support! Many many puppy-hugs for you two.^^_

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Okay, enough babbling, on with the story! (Characters (c) Kazuki Takahashi)

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**Mirror**

Summer holidays. The magic words for nearly every student which meant freedom, fun, and just enjoying themselves. A carefree time for everyone. Well, for almost everyone. There was always an exception and this one was sitting in the warm night air outside his apartment, waiting for the police to arrive.

The blond boy sitting on the stairs wore a blank expression, almost as if he didn't care about what was lying on the floor in his living room...but his mind was racing.

How could this happen? Was he really that blind? He should have seen the signs, the strange behaviour lately... If he had just paid more attention, had just worked harder then maybe he wouldn't...

Suddenly, a loud siren announced the arrival of both the police and the ambulance. He watched as the doctor on call and some policemen rushed into his little filthy apartment while a nurse carried him away from the stairs. Everything seemed to slow down as he saw the police taking the corpse of his father out of his home. Time stood still as he just stared at the dead body right in front of him. It was then when something broke inside of him, again. He knew this feeling all too well.  
The first time he felt it was when his mother left him with his beloved sister Serenity in tow. This time, his father had left him. He wasn't the best kind of old man you could imagine. In fact, he was an abusive alcoholic, but still...he was his father, wasn't he? At least deep, deep inside of him...

The blond had the feeling that someone actually needed him, in a strange way, though. But now, with his father's death, he felt alone. Truly alone...


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Wohoo! Chapter 2 is on! Thanks to everyone who took their time to read the first chapter. Special thanks to Willowsnake as my Beta._

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Yugi beamed, even though he was about to go to school.

"You seem to be very happy to see the others again, aren't you?" Yami couldn't help but give his little Hikari an amused smile. He knew how excited the shorter was since he was babbling about their friends the whole last week of the summer holidays.

"Yeah! I'm looking forward to hear what the others have done the last 6 weeks. I wonder if Marik and Malik were in Egypt, too. God, that trip was just fantastic..."

The hotel wasn't that good, but the landscape was totally worth it. The high pyramids and the thousands of years old inscriptions were just fascinating. The people there were so friendly and the hot sun had been kissing their skin. Yugi blushed madly as he remembered that not only the sun was kissing his skin...

"Hey! Stop daydreaming, we're almost there." Yami brought him back to reality and gestured to a happily waving Tea. Tristan and Duke were standing next to her with huge smiles across their faces.

"Yugi! Yami! Aaaaah! It's soooo good to see you!" With that, she flung her arms around both of them at the same time, almost knocking them to the ground.

"Aww, you two have such tanned skin! I tried _everything_ to get some colour, but I burned my skin so often. I'm soooo jealous of you two! Where have you been? Was it very far away? Did you travel by plane? You did travel by plane, didn't you? How was—"

"Woah, Tea. How about you let them go and let the two speak for once?" With that, Tristan dragged her away a bit. "Hey, you two. I assume you had a good vacation?"

"Haha. Hey, Tristan. Hello, Duke. Yeah, it was just awesome, but how about we tell you everything at the lunch break? And I also want to hear everything from you!" beamed the shortest of the group.

"Sure thing. That is, if Tea is able to hold on until then."

"What's that suppose to mean? I'm not that curious, Duke."

"Oh, of course not. What was I thinking...?" Duke just smirked at her.

She tried to scold at him, but failed after a few seconds and began to giggle. It wasn't long until the others joined in.

Yami was the first one who calmed down. "Where's Joey, anyway? Class starts in a few minutes."

"He's probably late again. Should we wait for him?" Duke looked around.

"Nah. Knowing him, he missed his alarm clock again. If we wait for him, we might be late to class as well." Tristan knew this all too well. Once the blond was asleep, nothing could wake him up so easily. You could throw a bomb in his direction and he would just mumble something in his sleep, turn around on his other side, and keep sleeping.

"Okay then. Let's go!" With that, the gang turned around and made their way to their first class.

Time passed by and so the first period came to an end.

"Where could he be? I know it's nothing new that he doesn't arrive punctually, but still..." Yugi looked really flustered.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll get here soon." Yami gave him a light hug, ignoring the slight feeling that something wasn't right.

"Yeah, and once he's here, Tea'll give him the speech of his life about 'coming late'," Duke joked to lighten the mood up.

"You bet! He should know the best out of everyone that he's the last one who can afford missing class. And the fact that it's the first day in school after the holidays makes things even worse. What is he thinking?"

A sweatdrop ran down everyone's forehead.

"Uhm, Tea? Please promise me you'll go easy on him, will you? We don't want him to be all brainwashed and stuff."

"WHAT? Tristan, I think we should talk again about how important education is for your future!"

"Oh no no no no... I still remember the last time you babbled my ears full. For about 5 hours!"

"Is that so? Then maybe I should give you the LONG version of that speech so that I can be 100% sure that you fully understood."

"...no, thank you."

"Hey, guys. Calm down. By the way, break is over in a minute. We should get back to our seats."

As soon as they sat down their teacher, Mr. Madson, rushed in.

"Good morning class! I hope you all enjoined your free time. So let's not waste our precious time and start with something new, shall we?" Uh, oh. He was smiling like a child on Christmas Eve. That meant nothing good.

Their thoughts were proved right as they saw the huge equation written on the board. Not to mention the amount of variables in it...oh, joy.

The class already spent 10 minutes on the evil task as a short knock came from the door and a slim figure entered.

Mr. Madson sighed before turning around to him. "Do you even know how late it is...Mr. Wheeler?"

He meant to give him a piece of his mind about showing up late again. But all he could manage was to stare at the boy standing in the doorway.

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_So what do think? I hope you enjoyed reading.^^ Reviews are more than welcome.^3^_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Chapter 3! Wohoo! Special thanks to my Beta Willowsnake and many many hugs to Anniebear91, rockangel777, SJ95, Kat, ShiandSaisei, markyc58 aaaaand piecrust._

_Your reviews made me very happy!*gives you all a cookie*_

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_Characters © Kazuki Takahashi (...what? Dwaaaah...it's not fair, is it? TT_TT)_

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Mr. Madson had to blink a few times until he recognized the boy in the doorway fully. He undoubtedly had spoken to Joey Wheeler – his blond hair was just that unique – but then again was it really him?Except from his messy hair, everything of his appearance seemed to have changed during summer vacation. He expected a happy-go-lucky, childish Joey, but not this.

His pale skin, which made him almost look like a ghost, emphasized the dark circles around his brown eyes even more. But that was not the only thing that made Mr. Madson worry. Joey was always slim, but still muscular. Now, you could tell by his looks, that the blond had lost weight since the last time he saw him. A lot weight.

"I'm sorry for being late, Mr. Madson. I didn't hear my alarm clock." Joey's calm voice brought him back to reality.

"Uhm, you... just – just take your seat." Madson was stunned at first, but regained his normal self again and went on with the lesson.

Joey only nodded and headed to his seat. His desk was in the first row. Just like in every other class he had. The chocolate-eyed boy was known for not paying attention and daydreaming, so every teacher arranged to let him sit right before their noses to keep an better eye on him.

He didn't mind at all since his desk was next to the window. A perfect place to observe birds and fluffy clouds and just spacing out...

Right now, that was the last thing Joey wanted to do. He didn't want his memories and _those_ thoughts to come back. He needed to distract himself even if that meant to actually follow the lesson, which was hard for him, because math wasn't one of his favourite hobbies.

As soon as the bell announced the end of the lesson, Joey found himself surrounded by his friends.

"Joey! What happened?"

"..."

"Where were you?"

"..."

"Are you alright? You look sick!"

"... It's nice to see you too, guys." He spoke again in this calm voice, even to his friends. It was so unusual for him – it just didn't fit to the cheerful blond he once was.

"Oh. Uhm, sorry, Joey. It's good to see you again. We were just worried about you."

"How often do I have to tell you that you worry too much, Yugi? You guys, too. You know I can take care of myself."

"Yeah. That's why you look like a ghost," Duke remarked with a sarcastic voice.

"He looks more like a zombie returned from the dead."

"Thanks, Tristan."

"Joey, you _do_ realize that's only the first day back in school and you already missed some lectures that are important..."

_'Geez, not that again.'_ Joey rolled his eyes as Tea begun with her 'Coming-late-speech'.

He got used to ignoring people's voices he didn't want to listen to. Which meant he saw Tea's mouth moving, but all he heard was a constant sound of 'blah-blah-blah'...

He watched her about two more minutes, but decided that it was way more interesting to just stare out of the window. He saw a couple of ravens pecking on the school's inner courtyard. Out of all the birds, the raven was his favourite. He loved their deep black plumage, the strong, sincere look in their eyes, and this intense atmosphere they radiated – a mixture of strength, freedom, loneliness and death.

He glanced back at the brunette just to find out that she was still talking about whatever. It didn't seem that she would stop anytime soon, so he continued to observe the happenings outside the classroom.  
Unfortunately his black feathered friends had decided to fly away. So what else could be of interest for him? That's right – the clouds.

Looking to the sky he found a big fluffy one that looked like some kind of dinosaur-thing. Or was it a bird? A plane?

_'...no, it's Superman.'_ He mentally slapped his forehead for such a lame joke. Funny what kind of images your brain couls create just by looking at some flying cotton wool.

"Joey! Are you listening? I was telling you that- "

"Are you finished yet?" It was always a nuisance to listen to her babbling. He knew she only wanted the best for her friends, but that didn't change the fact that it annoyed the blond to no end. He didn't have the nerve to deal with this shit right now.

"Wha- No! I'm-"

"Good. Now if ya don't mind, I'm gonna go to my next class."

No one, not even the gang themselves, dared to even think about cutting Tea off while she was giving one of her famous lectures. Okay, Joey was always the bravest one of them, but even he used to let her finish to avoid a speech about how rude it was to interrupt people. He must have really been in a bad mood.

_'Now that was quite interesting.'_ Kaiba had to admit that he was stunned, too, as he saw the blond this morning, but now as he saw how things turned out, he found himself rather amused. But still, there was one fact he didn't like at all. The mutt didn't even bother to look at him. In fact, he had ignored him.  
How dare he? Normally, Kaiba was the one who ignored others and not the other way around.

Joey made his way out of the room, leaving his slightly shocked friends and a certain blue-eyed CEO behind.

"Maybe we should apologize to him? I mean, I wouldn't be happy as well, when you gave me a welcome like that after not seeing you for a couple of weeks..." Yugi gave the others a questioning look.

"Yeah. A simple 'Hey, buddy!' would have done it too, I guess," Tristan replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Okay, let's go then..."

And so they made their way to their next class – art.

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_Sorry, I know it's very short – again...*sighs* oh well. Sooo, what do you think? Shall I continue or is it too boring?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

_A/N: I'm sooo so so so so sorry for the slow update!TT_TT I hope there'll be still some of you who read the story though..._

_Enjoy reading._

_Characters © Kazuki Takahashi_

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He knew that it wasn't right to ditch them like that. But sometimes they're so... so overly protecting and caring – it made him sick. He wasn't used to such a nice and lovely treatment. How should a person like him react to this? He'd grown up in the hard and rough part of the city – a streetfighter like him or rather like the one he used to be, wasn't capable of open up and trust people that easily.

He was and still is a very sceptical and suspicious person. There's no way he'd stop thinking like a fighter, no matter how hard he tried – there are some rules he learned on the street and still followed. The importants one always circulates through his mind everytime he looked at random people:

**Analyse** your opponent.

The moves: How is he moving? He's reaching out towards you; will this hand hit you in the face or does he just want to shake hands?

Language: Can you trust his words? What's his real intention? Or is he only telling lies?

Facial expression: Your opponent seems very happy or confident. By looking in his eyes you can see his real emotions – you can see his sadness, anger or his fear.

**'They say, the eyes are the mirror to the soul.'**

As much as Joey fascinated this proverb it also scared him. It was easy for him to see into the souls of most of the people, but does that mean they also could see _his_?

He didn't want that to happen – no one should _ever _look into the depth of his soul... that's why he builded up this wall; wore this mask. He needed to hide his truth emotions and lock away his thoughts or else it would be used against him. At least that's what he believed in.

"Joey?"

He snapped out of his thoughts just to see Yugi and the rest of the gang reaching his desk.

"Uhm, listen. We want to apologize for our behaviour earlier..."

He looked up at his friends. They all wore a warm smile and gave him _again _that concern look. But they also had something else in their eyes, something he couldn't made out at that very moment...

_'Gaah!' _The blond mentally screamed at himself as he realized what he was doing.

_'Now stop it already! They're your friends, there's no need to analyse them further as you did already!' _He took a deep breath. _'Now com'on. You have to show 'em that there's no reason to look so concern.'_

With that last thought he forced the best smile on his face he could at the moment.

"Nah it's okay. My reaction earlier was stupid, sorry Tea. ...I just stood up with the wrong leg I guess." He grinned wide at them and hoped they would believe his lie – and it worked.

"Ah okay. But still, we're sorry, Joey. We're glad that you're back now."

They did it again. Why did they apologize to _him_? It's not like he deserves it! For that matter _he _should apologize to them, after all he reacted not correct. They were just worrying about him...

And then again ...it's just another thing that annoys him about his friends. They apologize for almost everything, even though there's nothing they should be sorry about! And even if there is, most of the time it's _his _fault so why do always _they_ use that term? He didn't like to be handled with kid gloves. He opened his mouth to answer him, but before he could make a single word their art teacher Mrs. Janno, also known as 'the bird of paradise', practically bursted into the room. She wore a multicoloured dress with every colour you could think of and around her neck hung a necklace with strangly looking feathers.

"Let's get started class! I can't wait to see your new works this year! So chop-chop! Go to your seats, I'll explain you your task.", she clapped her hands in a childish way and looked way too eager into the round. Too bad no one seemed to share her good mood.

As everything was settled everyone started with their picture. Well more or less. Most of them were chatting, while others played with their mobilephone. There were a few exceptions who at least tried to start something. The task itself was stupid and you could hardly think of a good idea.

" '_Look inside of you and draw what you see.' _Tch. What is she thinking? I mean, _'What colour has your soul?'_ ?" Tristan groaned in frustration. That's the dumbest thing he heard for a long time. But what did he expected from that woman walking around like a big blur of colour?

"I don't get it either." Duke as well as Yami stared down at their empty sheets of paper.

Tea tried to lighten the mood and get them to work, but she wasn't so convinced of the topic herself. "Just try it, guys. Close your eyes-" and so she did and took a deep breath, "and try to see your soul."

"...you do realize how ridiculous that sounded, don't you?" Yami was far away from understanding the meaning of that all. Probably Mrs. Janno didn't knew that herself. When he closes his eyes he couldn't see. It's that simple.

"I know! But at least I tried!"

"Well..if we can't actually _see _the colour of our soul, why don't we think of what it would look like?"

"Yugi, you don't really believe that our souls have some colour or something like that, do you?"

Tristan began to worry about the mental health of the small boy.

"I know it's not very convincing, but how do you know that they havn't one? Did you ever saw a soul? No you didn't."

"No of course not, but still... the task is just stupid!"

"Get over it, big boy. We'll figure something out. Just draw something." Duke said and smirked.

On the other side of the room a certain multimillionaire had simliar thoughts.

_'__Tch. What a waste of time. Why do I even bother to come to something useless as art?'_

And faster than Mrs. Janno could look he took out his laptop and started to work on his latest contract. He would never admit it, but he knew all too well why he bothered coming here.

His blue eyes glanced over to the mutt, who sat all by himself a little bit further away from the kindergarten also known as Yugi and Co.

As clumsy as the second rate duellist seemed, Kaiba had to admit that Joey was indeed very skilled when it comes to drawing. Not that he would say that out loud, but the blond was very talented. There's no denial – Kaiba simply enjoyed watching him work on a new picture. When he reaches out for the right colours without giving a second thought. He just knows to which part of the motive they belong. The art lessons are always one of those few events where you can see a Joey Wheeler actually be very concentraded and absolutely occupied by his work. Kaiba kind of – dare he to think – _liked_ that part of Joey. For a short time he seems so very different to his childish friends.

More serious, someone who knows what he's doing and surprisingly drawing with a patience he didn't knew the blond actually could muster.

But not today.

What the CEO saw wasn't the mutt at all. His brown eyes stared at his empty sheet of paper. It didn't look like he even recognized it at all. That was the first time Kaiba saw him sitting aimless before a new task. Normally he already should have been starting to draw another wonderful piece of art as soon as Mrs. Janno told them what to do. But just like he proved this morning, this wasn't a normal day. This wasn't the _normal_ Joey Wheeler.

_Or was he?_

Kaiba blinked at that point and suddenly became unsure about the few facts he knew about Joey.

He only knew him from school. He laughes very often and in Kaibas opinion too loud. He's unnerving when he fools around with the kindergarten and his silly attitude not only pisses him off, but also reminds him everytime of a dog. He often saw it. That "smile", if you could call it so at all.

It looks so faked that it makes the CEO sick. No one noticed, but he sees it everytime, that the blond desperately hides his emotions behind that expression.

When he's angry at those friends of him. - He smiles.

When he gets interrupted by something meaningless even though he really wanted to tell the others something important. - He smiles.

When Tristan steels something from his lunch even though he's hungry as hell. - He smiles.

_'Why does he do that all the time? Why not just tell those morons what's bothering him? He lies constantly right in their faces. Tch. When we argue he finally shows some real emotions.'_

Wait. What was he thinking? Joeys real emotions only slipping through when they fight...?

That's right. He saw a change in those amber eyes when they looked at him enraged.

He saw the anger, passion, even a little bit happyness and he saw _it_. The fire of his soul.

Since he figured out how to get those emotions out of him, Kaiba took every opportunity to rile him up. To see the fire burning. It gave him the certainty that Joey wasn't lying to him.

Yes. That was it, that's the _real_ Joey Wheeler and not that pitiful bundle sitting right in front of him.

_'Why do I even care?' _Slowly he's getting headaches from thinking too much about the mutt. _'I have better things to do anyway than wasting my time with that nuisance of a barker.'_

With that he continued working on his contract he needs this evening for a business meeting.

Joey didn't know what to do. He was afraid of letting his hands get the better of him and work on their own like they usually did when he got white paper. But his mind wouldn't allow it. They should draw the colour of their soul and how it looks like... he didn't knew how it looks like, he could only _feel_ it. And if he would truly paint what he feels... he couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that.

Joey looked down on his desk. The paper was white and taintless. Pure. If he would draw his soul, it would get _dirty_. It would loose all it's beauty and pureness. He didn't wanted that to happen. Not here. Not now. He's not alone, he didn't feel safe here. Everyone could clearly see what his hands are doing.

"Oh? What's wrong, Wheeler? I'm surprised you didn't started yet." Mrs. Jannos shrill voice interruped his gloomy thoughts. She was staring in his tired eyes waiting for an answer.

As she didn't receive one, she continued. "I would have never guessed that of all people my best art student has problems with the task. Okay let me help you."

"I refuse."

"What?" Mrs. Janno was slightly taken aback from the harsh tone of her blond student.

"I said, I refuse. I don't want your help. I just couldn't think of a good motive yet, that's all."

When there's one thing that made him angry, besides Kaiba, than it's when someone wants to tell him what he should paint.

"O-okay... I'll come to you later again to see how far you got."

So a very confused bird of paradise made her way away from him and went to a student who needs her help.

The rest of the day was strange for everyone around Joey. He didn't talked much, ignored almost everyone and perhaps the strangest thing that happened that day: He didn't ate.

Joey Wheeler and not eating? Hell surely froze over! At least that's what Yugi and Co. thought when he told them in lunchbreak that he isn't hungry.

At the end of the schoolday he made his way home alone.

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_I can't believe that it took me almost a year to update. oÒ I hope the chapter is okay after that long time. And I'm sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.:'D_


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